Quarter Notes

When Symphony Hall opened in 1900, there were volunteers on hand to guide concertgoers through this landmark designed by McKim, Meade, and White. When it was declared a national landmark in 1999 as “America’s finest concert space,” the BSAV tour guides were in place to show off the Hall.

Now, the BSAV, always looking forward, has begun a new endeavor: 30-minute pre-concert tours on Friday and Saturday nights at 7:15pm. We had no idea how many ticket holders would be interested. However, after the first pre-concert tour at the end of October, we found that ticketholder interest was high. Over the next 8 months, we offered 38 pre-concert tours to around 750 guests. Add these numbers to our 150 private tours to 500 guests from countries such as Japan, Canada, Singapore, England, France, Spain, Germany, India, Columbia, and Brazil, and many states, including South Carolina, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, California, New Jersey, Michigan, Ohio, and Washington DC, and I’m sure many other. The BSAV has also hosted private tours from senior living environments, to high school classes, and some even in foreign languages. With more tour-takers, we began training a new class of tour guides this season to accommodate the additional interest.

I had delightful chats with two new tour guides: Joanne Dreher and Suraag Srinivas. Joanne and her late husband, Jerry, are no strangers to the BSAV: they have been involved for over 10 years! Jerry had been the past BSAV Chair, and Joanne has been a volunteer at Tanglewood for an array of activities.

Before retirement, Joanne worked in higher education at Lesley College. She stepped up just this year and signed on for the tour guide training program. This program covered all historical material along with shadowing long-time tour guides. Joanne loved the school groups who tested the amazing acoustics in the Hall, as well as a group of choral singers from England, and au pairs from overseas.

Suraag is a newbie to the BSAV. Growing up in Chelmsford as a teenager, he played the alto saxophone and the piano, and works at LEK Strategy Consultant firm. After learning about volunteering from a cousin who was a volunteer at the Aquarium, he saw the opportunity to come to the BSAV due to the flexibility of the pre-concert tours. He likes sharing the history of the Hall with the community.

The pre-concert tours will return in the fall when the BSO returns from Tanglewood. We are confident that even more guests will continue to visit this 123-year-old landmark, and old and new tour guides will be front and center to greet them.